Sheriff’s office conducting immigration sweep

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has raided an El Mirage business in its latest operation aimed at suspected illegal immigrants.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says his Criminal Employment Squad responded to a landscaping business Monday morning in the 12,000 block of West Peoria Avenue.

The Sheriff tells KTVK-TV his deputies arrested 17 people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Of those, Arpaio says 11 were arrested for false identification.

The Sheriff’s Office says its Illegal Immigration hot line received a tip that at least half of the people working in the business may be in the country illegally and using stolen identities to secure employment there.